Tom Clark - Digital Photography Composition For Dummies

types of lighting and how to work with different subject matter (or different forms).

Figure 4–8:The placement of a shape in a frame combined with the nature of the shape is important to a photo's message.

Depending on what you want your photo to say, you may choose to emphasize either shape or form in a composition. Each emphasis requires different treatment. Here's the lowdown on both:

Emphasizing shape:When you want to give a universal message that represents a recognizable idea or feeling, you usually do so with shapes rather than forms.

You can emphasize shape as opposed to form by shooting in a backlit scenario, such as the one in Figure 4–7 where the sun is directly behind the subjects. Backlighting creates a silhouette, which draws attention to the shape of a subject but doesn't reveal form. Use this lighting technique when the shape of your subject is more important to your message than the literal details in its form. For instance, a random person fishing off the edge of a pier during sunset could be silhouetted to give the timeless sense of what's happening. The lack of detail enables viewers to envision themselves in the person's place.

Emphasizing form:If the details of your subject are important to your message, you'll more likely emphasize form over shape in your composition. Say, for example, the man fishing off the pier at sunset is your father. In that case, you could create a great image of him by changing your point of view so he's lit from the side by the sun rather than from behind. This angle reveals details in his face and clothing, causing the image to become sentimental. Understanding perspective (Chapter 8) and lighting (Chapter 10) helps you emphasize form in an image.

Texture is an important element in images, and it can play several roles. It can inform viewers of what they're looking at, offer a sense of scale and distance, and add depth. If you include the peeling bark of a birch tree, for example, nobody's going to look at your image and think the subject is a car. By including the tree's lines, shapes, and forms, viewers know without doubt that they're looking at a tree.

Trees that appear in the distance within an image create the texture of the landscape. Viewers don't get a sense of the textures of the individual trees, but they get the sense of trees as texture. This technique gives viewers the sense of scale: Because trees are big, viewers know that the more trees shown in the image, the bigger the space being represented must be. If your vantage point looks over the tops of the trees, you can see rows of them as they go back into the distance. This angle gives the sense of depth in a composition.

The following are some examples of how you may use the texture of something to convey a certain message:

" The texture of a person's skin can give you an idea of how old the person is, or what kind of life he's had.Someone who has worked hard all his life doing manual labor outdoors has rougher skin than someone who was pampered and didn't have to spend so much time exposed to the sun.

" The texture of a subject can represent the selling point of that item.

For instance, a frosty mug of beer wouldn't look nearly as refreshing if sweat beads weren't dotting the surface of the glass. Similarly, if you were looking at images of carpet, you wouldn't be able to differentiate them if you couldn't get a sense of their textures.

The best way to reveal texture in an image is to light it from the side. Doing so puts a highlight on one side of the elements that make up the texture and a shadow on the other throughout the surface, giving a three-dimensional sense to the texture itself. (For more on lighting see Chapter 10.)

In Figure 4–9,1 used sidelighting to bring out the texture in the brick. I took this image for a brick manufacturer that needs to provide its clients with images that clearly represent the specific qualities of its products. Revealing texture gives the clients a sense of what makes this brick texturally different from another brick with the same shape and color.

135mm, 2 sac, f/11, 200

Figure 4–9:Sidelighting helps to reveal texture in an image.

Photographers seem to be drawn to patterns, both natural and manmade. Patterns are interesting to look at, so it makes sense that they work well in photographic compositions. In fact, patterns can help you do any of the following: reinforce your message, draw a viewer's eye to certain elements in your scene, and add visual interest.

Most importantly, however, including patterns in your compositions is an easy way to keep a viewer in your frame for longer periods of time. You can lead a viewer to your subject by positioning it at the end of a pattern or in the line of one. Picture a car driving around the bend on a winding road. The yellow dotted lines create a pattern that leads your eyes from the foreground, around the bend, and right to the car.

The key to using patterns successfully in your compositions is to know one when you see it, to know which type of pattern it is, and to figure out how it relates to your message. I show you several of the different types of patterns you're likely to use in the following sections.

You can find a sequence pattern — a pattern in which one element follows another — just about anywhere. The windows on the outside of a building can create a pattern, as can the railroad tracks, or the ripples in a lake after you throw a stone in it, which is exactly what I did to add interest to the

composition in Figure 4-10. The scene alone was interesting enough to photograph, but I still felt that it could use something else to make people want to look at it — and continue to look at it. Without the sequence of ripples in the water, this lagoon would be bordering on boring.

50mm, 1/160 sec, f/B, 100

Figure 4-10:Using a pattern to add interest to your composition.

Look for basic sequence patterns in reflections, butterflies, brick walls, ripples in the sand and water, and on flowers, plants, and trees (to name only a few). Elements that repeat naturally draw the eye and people's attention. Viewers often tend to follow the pattern to see whether it keeps going or to compare one side to the other as if looking for differences.

Repetition can suggest a pattern even when no real pattern exists. Five men lined up with surfboards standing in the sand right next to one another can suggest a pattern. The men and boards can be of varying shapes and sizes and colors. This situation doesn't technically show a pattern, but you get the sense that it does, and your eyes are drawn to it.

Repeating elements also help drive home your message. For instance, if you see one sailor walking down the street in Times Square, you may assume he's on leave and is visiting the city. On the other hand, if the streets are filled with sailors, you probably can assume that a parade or other special occasion is taking place.

Notice the use of repetition in Figure 4-11. The chopsticks act as leading lines to direct your eyes to the main subject — the repeating sushi rolls. (I explain more about using lines in the earlier section "Following Lines, Real and Imagined.") The repeating shapes of the sushi rolls draw your eyes around the frame and back to the starting point, which in turn leads your eyes back into the image. In this image, repetition works as a leading element and as a descriptive element. It shows how many pieces are served with this particular menu item.